Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices and methods for treating vegetable products and more particularly a device and method for trimming unwanted vegetative growth from a harvested flower.
Background
The flowering portion of a number of plants are harvested and employed for a variety of purposes, teas, infusions, vapors and smoking materials. Among these are the flowers of the marijuana plant. It is estimated that marijuana has been used by man since 3000 B.C. The plant has been used for medicinal, religious, spiritual and recreational purposes.
The expanding legalization and decriminalization of the use of marijuana has contributed to the growth of markets for the product as well as the development of more sophisticated producers, sellers and consumers. This sophistication has become evident is in the preferences expressed by dispensaries, sellers and buyers for increased control in the selection of plant genetics, methods for plant cultivation and uniformity in the presentation of the product.
Control of the plant genetics is deemed important if not essential as different strains of the plant are said to provide relief for different medically recognize maladies or conditions. Control of plant cultivation is deemed important as sophisticated sellers and consumers want to know “where” the product came from, that is, what type of media the plant was grown whether and what kinds of fertilizers were used in plant growth and whether and what kinds of other chemicals may have been used in the process of controlling the plant growth environment. Control in the uniformity and presentation of the product is deemed important as consumers of the product are interested in utilizing the flower or the “buds” of the plant as opposed to leaves of the plant, which exhibit a higher level of chlorophyll resulting in an undesirable harsh or even bitter taste when smoked. It is considered desirable then to remove leafy growth, to the extent that a user desires to eliminate the harshness associated with smoking leaf.
The marijuana plant is structurally typical in the sense that the plant includes a stalk from which numerous stems branch out, and branch out again. The flower of the marijuana plant is a compound flower including multiple sepals emanating from a single stem, surrounding and wrapping around the stem. Each flower includes multiple sepals that form a whorl that enclose the petals of a flower. Collectively, the multitude of sepals is referred to as the calyx. The calyx then forms the “flower” part of the female marijuana plant. The flower of the marijuana plant is formed of multiple “buds” formed at the base of each stem or sub-stem. As the calyx grows, leaf and the phyllary of the flower structure, in effect a plurality of modified leaves may extend from the bud. Most if not all dispensaries as well as a vast majority of sellers and buyers of marijuana prefer to purchase only those buds separated from the main stalk and other buds and having the described leafy structure removed from the buds.
To date, removal of the buds from the main stem and the sub-stems and removal of unwanted leafy structure from the buds has been effected manually by shearing each leaf extending from a bud with a pair of scissors. With an estimated annual production of 22 million pounds in the United States alone, the task of separating buds from stems and shearing unwanted leafage by hand has become ominous. It would be desirable to provide a device and method that would expedite the process of leaf and stem removal and shaping of the bud.
An object of the present invention is to provide a device and method that would expedite the process of leaf and stem removal from the harvested flowers of the marijuana plant.